Research, including new work from our Human Cooperation Laboratory at Yale, suggests Trump may be successful precisely because of his hotheadedness and lack of carefully thought-out proposals. Being seen as uncalculating can make people trust you.

Despite persistent calls for researchers to be more inclusive of ethnic minorities in their studies, our review found that little has changed over the last twenty years at great detriment to the field of Psychology as a whole.

Is Twitter a genuine national conversation about important issues of the day, or is it merely an "echo chamber" -- a place where the already opinionated go to have their extreme views reinforced? And if it is an echo chamber, is this more the case for left-leaning Twitter users, or right-leaning?

There is a widespread public perception that dementia can lead to a loss of a sense of self, but this notion has not been rigorously investigated. One way to study this is to look at actual cases of brain degeneration, and see if the damage is linked to identity changes perceived by others. Do people with specific kinds of brain damage become no longer themselves?

Carol Ryff's model of psychological well-being provides a powerful framework through which to analyze and organize one's life and to generate ideas about how to live better. So why isn't the popular media talking about the model? Perhaps it is time Ryff hired better marketing staff.

Microfinance is a psychological enigma. It is not in anyone's economic best interest to lend money to strangers without getting anything in return. Without interest or guarantee, what is the motivation to take on such financial risk? It seems more akin to charity than to banking. Is it? The fact is that we don't know the neuropsychological underpinnings of such selfless lending.

I grew up with a habitual overclaimer. He wildly exaggerated his expertise, at times claiming knowledge of things he couldn't possibly know -- people, events, ideas that simply do not exist. We're all familiar with these people who feel the need to overestimate what they know about the world. What underlies such assertions of impossible knowledge?

The very wealthy are disproportionately opposed to any policy -- including tax policies -- that would redistribute wealth more equitably. This makes sense from a purely economic perspective. But is there more to it than rational self-interest?

Children as young as three believe that hard work merits more reward. By the time they enter school, children are like little adults in their commitment to distributive justice. But is this impulse universal?

In 2008, a massive earthquake shook the Chinese province of Sichuan. The immediate devastation was followed by a dramatic spike in the divorce rate, a phenomenon that captured international attention -- and sparked widespread speculation -- at the time. Did the deadly earthquake actually cause the jump in marital breakups?

MOOIs (Massive Open Online Interventions) are mental health and substance abuse interventions, scientifically validated and available online to unlimited numbers of consumers. As with MOOCs, most of these consumers can be expected to drop out, but some will stay -- and get well.